


Corporal Shepherd.

by MxTrashTM



Series: Stasis House AU [1]
Category: Half-Life
Genre: Animal Death, Gen, Gman only cares about Adrian, Gsimp, Half Life AU, Half-Life VR But the AI is Self-Aware, Yes this originated from call gman a simp, i fucking added it are you happy?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-03
Updated: 2020-10-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 05:48:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25688323
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MxTrashTM/pseuds/MxTrashTM
Summary: This is the Corporal Shephard's bit for an AU being referred to as 'Stasis House AU' or 'Stasis house'This part of the series will be dedicated to Adrian's POV, unless stated otherwise.
Series: Stasis House AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1862761
Comments: 21
Kudos: 49





	1. Prologue

A man of your position is one that isn't expected to have emotions  
Those are distracting to your job  
To what you need to do  
You are an Observer.  
Your job is simple, at least to you and you require absolute attention in order to achieve your, or you should say, your employers goals.  
But  
You were something akin to human once  
And so, even with all the power in the world, you cannot stop if you were to feel such.  
Well  
You could stop these emotions.  
But you don't want to  
No, it's far too beautiful for that.

Humans often disregard emotions at times, at least that's how you feel.  
They feel even the smallest bit of happiness and simply think nothing of it but another reaction.  
Or, in your hire, Doctor Gordon Freeman's case, fear.  
Fear from none other that what you wanted to happen, the aliens in result of the Resonance Cascade.  
Aliens that attempted to kill him, you felt his fear as he fought off these creatures, although a horrible emotion, it made you feel great.  
Eventually, The Freeman grew use to these emotions, disregarding how great it is to feel something so strong.  
It annoys you.  
Huh  
That is an emotion in itself, you find it almost amusing.

The G-man, Government man, sits on a beach or, should I say, a chair upon the beach.  
His suit is immaculate as normal, not a grain on sand on them, unusually so, given that the nature of the beach means one should atleast have a little bit.  
But this 'man' does not abide by normal rules, or any rules for this matter.  
The G-man is himself, where ever he is.  
Although this could only be said physically, as he was internally feeling very unlike himself.  
As in  
He was feeling emotions.

This outcome was expected, given that he had been observing humans for years, he was bound to pick up on their… habits.  
But  
This was overwhelming, this was not some casual reaction.  
Something to brush off.  
No  
He actually felt, genuinely felt, something.

He contemplates the past events.  
He had sent his hire, one Doctor Gordon Freeman, into stasis for his future endeavors, after you cannot risk your most valuable piece to be injured.  
And  
His absence will effect the rebellion and the events after Black Mesa, a perfect consequence.  
Then  
He sent Corporal Shepherd into a stasis, but unlike The Freeman, he decided to let the other stay awake for this, instead having his stasis be in a physical object, the commonly used tram.  
He did not care much about containing The Corporal, after his absence or lack there of would do nothing to effect anything majorly.  
But  
One can be wrong.  
There are… unforeseen consequences, even for someone like him.

Then there is the unknowable side effects, well, they can be knowable to you but you often never acknowledge them.  
After all, they never effect things in the grand scheme of things.  
But  
You look towards the future, something you often avoid, for the knowledge can be too much to bear.  
But  
There slightly warmth in your heart as you see what the future could hold.  
A wonderful chance at happiness, for everyone.

The butterfly effect, such a beautiful thing.  
And the one who causes these chains of events is one often disregarded.  
How interesting.

Emotions are a beautiful thing, you've found yourself contemplating over the past days.  
And interesting set of chemical reactions, something that can effect you so much it shakes you to your core.  
When you were younger, you didn't realise how much you had to cherish these things.  
But now in your wiser years, you realize.  
And you crave them.  
You see a future where you are free from your employers's aggressive bonds, free from their hatred of emotions.  
Hatred of bonds, the good type.  
You will get that future.

You almost feel sorry for your other self, forced to follow the events of their universe, without choice.  
But you will make your choice.  
You will decide what you want  
You will  
Create your own universe.

An alternative solution to a problem you never thought existed, happy ending you knew where never possible.  
Well, you thought you knew  
But you will prove yourself wrong.  
You have to  
You can't go back to being emotionless.

So, now it's time to start the chain of events, if you can play the cards right.

To Corporal Adrian Shepherd, a man who will change everything, a man who will cause peace for those who need it.  
And he doesn't even know this  
No one really does, no one can see it  
Not even you, but you know the rough idea.

It all starts with a conversation.

The G-man enters Adrian Shepherd's tram, the mysterious, suited man giving nothing away about his sudden appearance.  
Under his mask, Adrian's face lit up in belief the suited figure was finally about to tell him he would be free to go from this impromptu prison.

"Corp-oral… Shep-herd, it has been a while, has it not?"

The G-man smirked, Adrian's stomach dropped, he knew he was not going home.

"Why don't we… catch up, hm?"

Adrian Shepherd has the feeling that he'll never return to earth.  
He feels like instead he'll be listening to the God awful sound of The G-Man's voice

Has his suit always looked that stupid?


	2. Day One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Young Adrian Corporal Shephard has a good ol' conversation with The G-man and learns some of the truth about the Black Mesa incident.
> 
> And we get to learn what pets he has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Side note: All art to do with Stasis home has a hashtag! It's #Stasishouse on insta, where else idk.  
> But if y'all want the whole stuff without the build up (and potential spoilers) that's where it'll be. (and just plain art for it, if any of you artist go OwO to this AU, feel free to use the hashtag! That's what it's there for!)

Okay maybe it’s time to recap things.

For yourself, otherwise you might have a freak out on this dude if you don’t think about it first, or you just won’t make sense.  
Not that you feel like talking about things with him, but he obviously wants a conversation and you’ve got nothing else to talk about.  
You’re sure this, Government man, doesn’t want to hear you talk about dogs for a solid hour.  
So  
You are Corporal Adrian Shephard and, for no good reason, you were assigned to train at the Santego Military Base in Arizona in the Hazardous Environment Combat Unit and because of your training, you were sent to The Black Mesa Research Facility after reports of ‘Xen invaders’.   
You honest to God never believed in aliens, it was a nice concept but you didn’t find it believable that aliens existed.  
Guess that’s why you work in the military and not some fancy research facility.

Of course, you’ve been proven horribly wrong, you wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for aliens.  
You’re in two minds about how you feel about aliens.  
You’re 95% sure that this ‘G-man’ is, at least, not part of any human government. So that would mean he's some kind of asshole alien that imprisoned you in this tram in, what you assume, is space.  
You’re pretty sure you’ve had nightmares about this, well about the tram you took to school, that felt like a prison bus.  
So for that part, you’re pretty fucking pissed at aliens and hate them.  
But  
On the other hand, you would have never survived Black Mesa without some alien help.  
Sure, a lot did try to kill you, but a lot more were willing to become your friends!  
You almost cried over one of those dog aliens, you have a soft spot for dog and dog-like creatures.  
They remind you of your puppies back home.  
So  
Guess you like some aliens.

There a lot more shit you need to think about, about what actually went down in Black Mesa, who died and who you killed.  
One would think that you would have been thinking about nothing but that after The G-man originally left you alone  
You don’t know how long he’s actually left you in here, you watch stopped working the second you arrived.  
Maybe you’ve been trapped here for years and still haven’t gone through what’s gone down in Black Mesa, anyone with half a brain could see you were clearly avoiding it  
I mean, you knew what you were getting into when you joined the military, but guess the concept was never really real to you until you actually had to kill things.  
You have a gun and you know how to use it  
But like  
Actually using it against something living, opposed to a target?  
Damn.  
Sometimes reality is too hard to bare, so you’ll avoid thinking about it for now. Not like you’re under any time pressure, you don’t think this asshole will ever let you go.  
Maybe he’s got some degree in psychology or whatever, the guy’s got a fit for it, fancy suit and all.  
Maybe that’s why he wants to catch up? You’ve never gone to therapy so you don’t know if that’s how they start things.  
I guess straight up asking what’s wrong is too forward.

The G-man sits opposite Adrian Shephard, one leg over the other at some attempt at a casual pose but his unnaturally straight back gives away his unhuman nature. The ‘man’ may look human but he clearly was having trouble acting like one. Adrian’s sitting pose was normal but clearly uncomfortable, after all it’s difficult to be comfortable around someone who imprisoned you in a space tram for no good reason. This man was acting so casual, as if they normally had conversations. Adrian felt like punching the other, giving The G-man a piece of his mind.  
But  
All fight had gone out of him, he used too much fight in Black Mesa and needed a God honest break.  
So, yeah, he’ll humor the other and have a bit of a conversation, not like he has anything better to do. 

“Catch up?”  
Speaking felt unnatural to you, guess it really has been a while. Maybe you should ask him for the time or something.  
If he replies with something about ‘time not existing here’ you might lose it, you swear that you never watch another Sci-Fi movie again.  
“Yes, catch up.” The casual term seemed unnatural in The G-man’s mouth, given the man’s an alien, everything might just be unnatural with him. “I was hoping to… use more casssual terms... in order to make this... con-versation more. Com-fortable.”  
You found it a bit amusing that this strange man was wanting to appear casual, he didn’t seem at all aware of the vibes he gave off. You honestly wished that he wouldn’t talk, the more he did the more you wanted to rip your ears off, does he honestly not understand how weird his speech is?  
You wish you had more options of entertainment then to talk to him, but if you just keep talking and don’t ask him a lot of questions you won’t have to hear him speak a whole bunch.  
Unfortunately you both:  
A) Have a lot of questions and  
B) Are too polite to not at least attempt to have pleasant conversation, and you feel even the smallest of questions or anything will get you a whole speech.  
With a sigh, hopefully angry enough to show the man how you feel, you slump back in the seat you’ve been sitting in since you first arrived, arms crossed.  
“Honestly, I don’t know what we could ‘catch up’ on.”  
The G-man seemed amused, as if he asked purely to get some annoyed response.  
Maybe he was, suits are always acting smarter than you, like you’re some dumb rat they’re testing responses on.  
“After all nothing’s changed since you’ve imprisoned me in this space tram, as I have nowhere to go-”  
The beginnings of your angry rant, one you didn’t realize you were holding in, was interrupted by the worst noise ever.  
The G-man’s voice.  
“Yesss, well we can’t have you. Ssspeaking about this…”  
Right.  
He said something about that.  
‘The human desire to tell all’ or something.  
Why was he repeating this?  
He sounded like he was trying to justify his actions.  
And for what reason?  
“Right right, I get that, just a little annoyed.”  
You felt a little ashamed about it, niceness has been drilled into you as much as any drill in the army.  
But this guy deserved it right?  
Sigh.  
“I mean, I expected some kind of fighting and killing while training, I mean, I’m in the army, right?”  
You sounded like you were trying to comfort yourself, after all you killed a lot of people and aliens.  
Anyone would need comfort after that.  
Why couldn’t a sympathetic weird alien suit trap you here? At least they would comfort you.  
Or maybe that wasn’t aloud on the job.  
Maybe he has some shred of humanity in his alien body, as he did have the grace of looking slightly guilty.  
But what for?  
“Hm, killing and. Fighting was more than ex-pected for the job you were… required to do.”  
Required?  
You choose your next words carefully.  
“You were the g-man at camp.”  
You weren’t going to let him deny it, you know what you saw.  
“The dude watching me and checking me out, you had a reason for that didn’t you?”  
The corner of his right lip lifted up, revealing unnaturally sharp canines.  
The bastard was smirking, smirking like someone who had just got caught in some kind of scheme, but when it was too late.  
When he knew he had won.  
“Con-gratulations on.... figuring it out. I knew you. Weren’t a foolish man.”  
The G-man stood up, pacing down the aisle. He had put his hands behind his back, making sure no one would mistake him for nothing other than a suave businessman.  
“Yesss, I did have my reasssonsss for… obssserving you. You were a va-luable assssset, an important piece. In the events... that had to take place in Black Messsa.”  
Those words made you stand up, with what emotions you weren’t sure yet.  
“So… Everything I went through was for something you wanted to happen with Black Mesa?”  
The other simply nodded his head, he had completed his walk down the aisle and now had his back turned to you.  
You glared at the man’s back as he looked out the window, clearly avoiding eye contact as who would just stare off into space at a time like this?  
“Why? What made me so interesting that you had me go to Black Mesa? Why Black Mesa? Why-”  
You felt angry tears, tears at the injustice.  
How many good people died in the facility for whatever this suit’s desires are?  
Does he even care?  
You’re not going to ask him that, because you’re not prepared to deal with the consequences of your reaction.  
Whatever fight was in you left your body as quickly as it appeared, you weren’t a fighter like that anyway.  
You’re tired of fighting, you honestly just would like a rest or something.  
As you sat back down, the other spoke again.  
“That is… classss-ified in-formation, Cor-poral Ssshephard.”  
You sighed and got the feeling that many of your questions would have that response.  
The G-man turned around again, clearly expecting you to ask another question.  
You weren’t going to let him be all smug with his ‘classified information’ so you decided to ask something simple.

“Okay, topic change. What time is it?”  
As you saw the amused smirk appear on The G-man’s face you got the feeling he was about to give you some Sci-Fi bullshit.  
“Time… Hm, I am honessstly not one for… It. But given that it isss an... im-portant thing for humanssss to gr-o-und… them-ssselvesss I will hu-mor you. With an anssswer.”  
He could have just said ‘10 past 3’ or something, why does it have to be a whole speech with him?  
“Thank you...”  
Damn your hospitality, at least your mother isn’t rolling in her grave.  
Although The G-man seemed to respond well to the thanks, if he was a cat you would say he looks like he just spotted a fun toy. Maybe because he's an alien he might act more like an animal than human? If that’s the case it would be easier on you to understand him, you understand animal body language more than human.  
The G-man cleared his throat.  
“The time is currently a-round… e-eleven thirty in the mo-rning, almossst a week from the… Black Messsa in-cident.”  
You needed a second to realize what that meant.  
A week???  
A week of you missing in action surely means you’re classified as dead???  
What would that mean for your babies??? Your puppies??? You couldn’t abandon them!!!  
Behind the mask, your eyes grew wide with fear, you didn’t care about how you were with this situation anymore, you’d had enough of sulking.  
If you were classified as dead, your puppies would end up in the pound or homeless.  
Now you’re mad, and you’re willing to fight tooth and nail if that means The G-man will let you out.  
So you stood up again, readying your fists and taking a step towards the only thing that’s keeping you away from your puppies.  
But as you saw that excited look on his face, you knew he was clearly expecting you to react aggressively. He made no effort to stand back, to keep you away from him. Instead he grinned, his wide eyes staring you down.  
Like hell you’d let that bastard get the better of you, you were going to keep being hospitable to The G-man, even if it meant you weren’t going to keep your dignity.  
Because you had another plan.  
One that would make him look like the asshole.  
You were going to grovel.  
You hope that was guilt you saw in his face before because if this guy doesn’t feel guilt you’re screwed.  
You dropped to your knees and what you hoped was a convincing howl of agony.  
“Are- are you-”  
You smirked behind the mask as you heard the man stutter, clearly those drama lessons were not a waste.  
“Are you… al-right?”  
Finally, you wiped the smirk off his face and now you went for the kill.  
Sweet, sweet powers of guilt tripping, don’t fail me now, was the prayer that left your head.  
"Of course not! Because of you and what you've decided should happen to me, my sweet, innocent puppies are going to be homeless! Sure the landlady will keep them for a bit but they have certain needs that no one else can be bothered providing! I'm their pack leader. I can't just leave them! And then they'll starve or die for loneliness and I can't let that happen!"  
You crawled over to him, grabbing onto his pant leg and looking up in what you hoped was an extremely desperate expression.  
You had to hold down a smirk as you saw how awkward the man looked, although you felt slightly guilty as he did seem properly worried.  
"Would... Bringing them here make your... ssstay more. Com-fort-able?"  
Hold on  
You didn’t expect that.  
Well, It wasn’t what you wanted exactly, but it was as good as you were going to get.  
"You can do that?"  
"Na-turally..."  
One problem. Does this guy know how to take care of animals?  
"If- If you can bring them here with all their stuff- they need special food-"  
"Of courssse I.... can bring. All of that here."  
"But what about when I run out of food- it'll be good for a while- do they need to eat... Do I? I haven't felt hungry."  
You suddenly realize that, in the week you’ve been here, you haven’t felt hungry.  
Maybe it’s something to do with wherever you are?  
Does that mean your puppies need to eat?  
“Do not worry about food for the time being… This kind of stasssis... allowsss one’sss bodily needsss to be. Fro-zen.”  
“But if I wanted to eat, I could?”  
“Yesss, if you really wanted to. I could easssily re-move such ressstrictions...”  
You nodded your head, starting to piece together your exact situation.  
“Okay okay okay… So you need my address right? It’s uh-”  
There was a light chuckle from the man as he seemed amused by you trying to give your address.  
“There isss no need to. Tell me where you ressside, Corporal. I know where you live.”  
For some reason, that sent chills down your spine. The certainty on which he said it make you nervous.  
“Okay, just please be careful with them-”  
But your words fell on deaf ears as he was already gone.  
Guess now you wait?

The G-man made his way up to the doorstep of the home he was currently renting at, anyone that knows Adrian would know that he lived there as one could clearly hear the excited barks of several Alaskan Malamutes.  
Of course, a suit like his wasn’t unusual to the area as it was quite close to the training barracks that G-man had gotten Adrian sent to.  
He politely knocked on the door as alien as he is, he is not unfamiliar to customary politeness.  
A confused old lady opened the door, with some struggle as the dogs clearly wanted to see who was at the door.  
“Oh deary me, don’t tell me you’re here to deliver some bad news about that lovely boy Adrian. I knew I shouldn’t have let him go off on that special job-”  
The G-man cleared his throat and fixed his tie.  
“Of courssse not Miss… Young Corporal. Adrian Ssshephard has been… resssigned to a-nother bassse and ssso I have come on behalf of him, as he is busssy getting ussse to his… a-ccommodation, to get hisss beloved. Pets...”  
The G-man may be an alien and often strange and creepy, but the aura he gave off now was quite a pleasant one, a trusting one.  
He looked at the old lady with a pleasant and warm smile, one hand outstretched.  
She took it warmly, giving the other a smile.  
“Well it’s good to hear that he’s alive and well, good thing you came when you did, I was getting worried about what I would do with these doggies.”  
She walked inside, The G-man following behind.  
Or at least he was  
Then he got bombarded by a pack of friendly Malamutes who all wanted to see the new stranger.  
“Seems they’ve taken a liking to you already! That’ll be good with moving them, right?”  
The G-man could only nod, as the animal's snouts were awfully close to his mouth and he didn’t feel like getting a mouthful of dog tongue.  
The lady found this scene amusing, as she chuckled at the poor man being swarmed by loving dogs.  
“Well I’ll go get their food and stuff, I be taking it you’ll be transporting them in some big trunk or something?”  
The G-man pushed one of the dog’s snouts away so he could speak freely.  
“No. No Miss… All I asssk isss if you can take it out. To where Corporal Ssshephard wassss renting, having everything in one. Place will make it much easssier to transssport.”  
She found the request odd but went off to do so anyway, after all, these government men sure are strange.

When G-man had finally wrangled the pack of dogs to their owner’s previous household, all needed things were in there. Most of them were in there anyway, opposed to a few of the dog’s items.  
“Well, that’s all of them dear, would you like anything before you go?”  
The dogs had finally stopped swarming The G-man, but were still clearly excited.  
Like they sensed this mysterious man was the ticket to seeing their beloved leader again.  
“No… I am a-fraid that I cannot ssstay… Time. Is off the e-ssssence, Hm?”  
Seems the poor old lady doesn’t get much company, as she seemed sad to let him go.  
“Alright, just make sure you tell that boy that if he doesn’t take care of himself, I’ll be haunting him from the grave.”  
The G-man nodded and took a step closer to her, placing a hand lightly on her shoulder.  
“Do not worry… He will be al-right…”  
As The G-man left with the dogs and Adrian’s possessions, the old lady walked to her living room, seemingly dazed by the recent events.  
After all  
There could be no loose ends  
So   
It had to be like he was never there  
So she had to forget.  
Maybe it was for the best, as she would have spent the next few years attempting to contact Adrian in a feeble attempt to see how he was doing, only to be met with abrupt hang ups or flat out denial.  
And an old lady like her couldn’t handle that.

Instead of a portal and taking multiple trips to transport all of Adrian’s stuff, The G-man simply transported all of Adrian's items and dogs with him.  
Yes it is far more difficult to do, taking much more effort out of The G-man, but it saves time.  
Adrian was bombarded with kisses from his pack, the dogs clearly missed him as they didn’t allow him to escape until he was covered in kisses.  
The G-man chuckled at this sight from the seat he partly collapsed in, thankful that Adrian could not see the slight moment of weakness that had overcome him from his transportation.  
When he had fully recovered, The G-man stood up again, straightening his tie.  
“Well… I am a-fraid I cannot ssspend any-more time here, I have other i-important tasssksss to be doing.”  
“Wait”  
Adrian had recovered from his loving assault from his pack and was now sitting on the floor, still surrounded by the dogs.  
“I- I just wanted to say thank you, I was so worried about them and you even got my other stuff and-”  
The G-man held out a hand.  
“Think nothing of it… It was a necessssary tasssk.”  
The G-man made to leave, another portal appearing.  
“But, thank you, I really do appreciate it.”  
Just before he left, before there was a flash and he was gone, Adrian could swear he could spot a genuine smile on The G-man's face, as well as the words.  
“Think of it as... sssomething to make up for your im-prisssonment, sssomething well de-ssserved.”

Maybe all aliens are good, they just don’t know how to be good until someone shows them how.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have all of this typed on a google doc, adding my friends that are brain storming the stasis home AU with me.  
> Someone dedicates their comments to calling gman a simp.


	3. Day Eight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> G-man gets new suit  
> The dogs gets a new lawn  
> Adrian gets to learn a bit about G-man  
> G-man gets a sticker.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I can't express how happy I am to get comments on my work, Y'all are too much for me!!!
> 
> I hope to be drawing some art of this soon, although who knows.

It’s not as if The G-man wanted to seem disinterested or as if he was avoiding Adrian, the real reason he stayed away for a week is that he lacked the understanding of human interaction.  
The need for it constantly   
Not as if Adrian missed him, they only had one proper conversion and there was no indication that he was coming back.  
For all he knew, The G-man would hardly or never visit, and if anything, simply check on how he was doing.  
But  
You, Adrian Shephard, did miss the company The G-man brought.  
Dogs were great! Wonderful!  
But they didn’t speak the way you needed them to speak.  
You consider yourself to be an animal person, enjoying every interaction with animals, sometimes even neglecting humans for those interactions.  
But  
You were human and needed something human-like to interact with.  
So  
You felt some happiness seeing The G-man enter the tram again after what feels like forever.  
As your puppies ran up to greet the other, you took notice of two things.  
1) He had on a light grey suit.  
2) He was smiling as the puppies greeted him, it was small but there.

You’d been spending the past week attempting to think of some pleasant conversation topic for you and The G-man.  
You weren’t going to get important information out of him, but you still wanted to talk, so you needed to think about what you were going to talk about.  
You really wish you knew more about the man, that could help when coming up with some topics.  
It would also help if you knew about business.  
Oh well  
No time for past regrets  
You literally can’t do anything about that now.  
So  
You were glad about seeing the new suit, it gave you a conversation starter at least.

“New suit? What’s the occasion?”

Despite his prolonged absence, you were in a good mood, you found your old sticker sheets and decided to redecorate the tram.  
Bright colours against the cold steel grey and the blackness outside gave you some sense of peace, of home.  
So you cracked a joke, hoping the other would respond well to it.

“Ah… yesss, the new ssssuit… The o-ccasssion being that your petsss. Ssshed rather… rap-idly and I wish to not make it ssso. Not-ic-eable, asss the a-mount of lint rollersss I would have to. Ussse would be… wassste-ful.”

The smile was still on his lips, so you assumed he was making a joke.  
Huh  
Maybe one of the things you should talk about is how to make a good joke.

“Alaskan Malamutes, what can you do? They need to shed.”

You tried your best to look sympathetic, hard to do with your mask but you’ve learned to make do with body language. So you gestured to all around the tram as you said this, the tram’s seats and yourself were heavily covered in dog fur, an unexpected decoration.  
The G-man chuckled at that.

“And ssshed they… do.”

The puppies calmed down, now just mingling around the aisle, The G-man took this time to brush off some dog fur from a nearby seat and sit down then brushing off what fur he’s already gathered, not like it will do anything in the long run.  
You wished The G-man would try to make conversation, as he looked at you expectantly, you were thankful he seemed to be in a nice mood today, that look when you were ready to punch him leaves a sour taste in your mouth.  
This man was powerful, yes, and he knew it.

“So… uh, I was so happy about my puppies being okay and you left so quickly I forgot to ask, How was Miss Ward? I feel really bad for not being able to say goodbye, after all she was so nice to me and my pack.”

Your stomach churned as his eyebrows lifted in a sympathetic look, you remember him mentioning something about ‘no witnesses’  
But Delia doesn’t count, right???  
God, did you indirectly kill her???  
The deep breath the man took before speaking felt like years, your puppies detected your distress and swarmed you with kisses before you could accuse him of murder.  
Good thing they stopped you.

“Miss... Ward wasss jussst glad to hear you were. Alive, after all she had an un-pleasssant feeling about… your lassst mi-ssssion.” 

He seemed to find that amusing, his chuckle left a sour taste in your mouth.  
You should have listened to her.  
But you have no doubt that he would have found another way to involve you.  
You almost forgot how much you hated him for causing all of this, but his chuckle reminded you.  
It resonated so much in your head, like a frustrating ear worm, that you didn’t hear the rest of his sentence.

“Un-fortunately… or fortunately, de-pending on how you want to look at it. Ssshe will not be worrying about you. Anymore asss for the sssake of having no ev-i-dence that you exisssted ssshe has… un-willingly for-gotten you.”

You just glared angrily at The G-man as he continued to speak, The G-man fell silent as he realized you weren’t listening.  
He stared calmly back  
Waiting.  
It took you a few deep breaths to calm down  
Yes, he caused this  
But he has, or at least seems to be, trying to make it up to you.  
So  
You’re going to give the guy the benefit of the doubt  
He mentioned something about his employers, the first time you talked.  
So you’re gonna be sympathetic to this guy and assume he had no other choice but to subject you to that hell for the sake of whatever twisted shit his employers wanted to do.  
You’re going to ignore he never mentioned it before when he confessed to The Black Mesa incident.  
You’re going to be nice.  
He. Is. Trying.  
With a huff, you spoke again.

“It sucks I couldn’t tell her in person, at least she doesn’t have to worry now.”

You really wished you could say goodbye, but you couldn’t do anything about that.  
Then you remember something.

“Could I ask you a favor?”

If he refuses, you’re willing to grovel again, you sniff like you’re going to try just in case.

“Of courssse… asss long asss it. Ssstaysss within the guide-linesss.”

“Right, uh, so in case you didn’t know, dogs need a lot of area to run around in, especially these guys, I mean they’re used to pulling sleds! So-”

The G-man nodded, once, and interrupted you speaking by standing up.  
You couldn’t tell what he was doing, but you dogs certainly could as they rushed to a newly appeared door at the other end of the tram.  
You stood up and turned around to see what they were woofing at.  
At the outside area that was previously behind you, a lawn grew from thin air, similar to the one back at Delia’s.  
You watched in awe, you were so enamored by the appearance of the new lawn, you didn’t notice The G-man had walked to be standing next to you until he spoke.

“Fasssci-nated by the sssim-plessst of powers… are we, hm?”

He clearly enjoyed how awestruck you were, the smirk on his face grew and you were sure his ego did as well.  
Then again, he must not be able to show off his powers to humans often, given how awkward he is with interaction. He must not talk, let alone show off his powers, much.

“Well, I mean, It’s a lawn appearing out of nowhere.”

The G-man simply hummed in reply, then made his way over to the doors the best he could, what with the dogs swarming the door.  
The lawn finished growing, you worried as your puppies escaped through the opening door that they would be lost to the void if they leaped off the lawn in excitement.  
But turns out your fears were unfounded as they simply couldn’t leave the lawn, like an invisible wall blocked them.  
After the puppies cleared out, G-man gestured to the open door.

“Do you wisssh to… tessst how au-then-tic the lawn isss?”

“Of course, I missed the outdoors!”

You rushed out there naturally, god, it feels like a full decade since you’ve seen the outdoors.  
The grass seems unnaturally bright, so does the flowers and leaves from the singular tree in the middle on the lawn.  
But god, did it look beautiful.  
Your puppies agreed too, as they rolled around and sniffed everything.  
You stood there, taking in the beauty, you committed this scene to memory, as you weren’t sure when the next peaceful one would be.  
You were acutely aware of The G-man joining you outside, just standing by the door and silently observing the scene.  
You both stayed like this for a while, after all, watching your puppies joyfully bound around was filling you with joy as well.  
You decided to sit down, as you felt your legs getting tired, you decided on under the tree, so you had something to lean against. When you sat down, your puppies swarmed you the second you sat down, you started laughing as they covered you in kisses.  
When their excitement died down and moved onto laying on or near you, you became fully aware that The G-man was still standing there, now just simply staring off into the void.

“You can sit down y’know, the lawn’s not gonna ruin your suit if you’re careful enough.”

You patted an area of lawn next to you, the only area clear of dogs.

“Your legs must be getting tired, take a load off.”

The G-man seemed slightly shocked by your offer.

“I… do not get. Tired, my legsss are per-fectly fine-”

“It’s called a polite offer, unless you’re busy.”

Clearly he was not, or at least didn't want to seem rude, as he slowly walked over and sat down. The G-man leaned against the tree carefully, as if he wasn’t used to leaning.  
With that stiff pose, he probably wasn’t.  
Geez, you’ve heard Delia complain about old age and how stiff one’s bones can get and such but this guy looks like he’s well overdue for a trip to a masseuse, or new bones by how awkwardly he sat down and leaned.  
But, luckily, the other seemed to get used to relaxing as his body gradually became less tense, leaning more into the tree.

Eventually, you closed your eyes, there may have been no sunlight to bask in but the peaceful situation was putting you to sleep. Your puppies were also getting sleepy as you heard their gentle breathing and little snores.   
You committed this feeling to memory, as you weren't sure when the next feeling of this much peace would be.

You decided you didn't want to fall asleep while he were here, so you struck up a conversation but kept your eyes closed.

"This is so nice, thank you, I missed nature so much."

"Under-ssstandable... Nature issss a be-autiful thing... Esss-pecially the. Flowers..."

"Trees are pretty great too."

To put emphasis on what you were saying, you lightly tapped the tree.

"Yesss, but flowersss come in. A range of many beautiful and won-drousss coloursss, I would sssay it is the bessst. Thing about Planet Earth."

Right. Alien  
You'll have to ask him about showing you some alien plants sometime.  
You honestly forgot that he was an alien, like fully for a bit, and that things you never hope of seeing existed out there.  
It felt strange discussing earthly matters with an alien  
Especially one that didn't seem so alien now, you say now because he...  
Seems so weirdly human  
Fascinated by things such as the colour of flowers.  
It seemed so human but alien at the same time  
You felt it to be weird.

You felt the other shift next to you, so you slightly opened one of your eyes to see what he was doing.  
The G-man’s briefcase had appeared next to him and was currently looking through it, you couldn’t see what was in it, which was weird, it was like your brain just couldn’t process it.

“Y’know, working isn’t relaxing.”

The G-man chuckled at this.

“Yesss, I am aware… But the time be-ing I cannot a-fford to 'ssslack off'…”

You frowned under your mask, guess you don’t get a lot of time to relax with The G-man. Guess it’s more suitable that way, given you both don’t have a lot to talk about.

“So you gotta go? I understand.”

The G-man stood up and straighten his tie.

“Un-fortunately… I cannot wassste any time. With the current sssit-uation… I ap-ologize for the ssshort-ened visssits...”

“It’s fine, life is busy, but could I ask you another favor?”

“Nat-urally…”

“Could I have something to contact you? Like, I really missed having someone to talk to and I want to know when you’re coming to visit.”

The G-man paused for a second, then handed you a pager, pulling it from seemingly nowhere.

“Thisss you ssshould find sssuit-able, contact me when. You wisssh to talk…”

“Thank you.”

The G-man paused for the moment before nodding his head in response.

“Now… I mussst return to my. Work…”

Oh wait! You almost forgot!  
You pulled a small sticker sheet from your shirt pocket, and gently pulled off a shooting star sticker.

“I wanted to give you this, as thanks for-” You gestured to your puppies “-Y’know”

The G-man seemed shocked, but lifted up a hand.

“I ca-nnot accept thisss, verbal thanksss wasss ad-eq-uate and... I have no-where to put it. That would be ex-tremely un-professssional…”

“Alright, I get it…”

You only accepted defeat so easily because you had a plan, you would win.  
Before The G-man picked up his briefcase, you snuck the sticker onto his briefcase.  
You smirked to yourself as The G-man disappeared through a portal, he would get a nice ‘thank you’ sticker and he would like it no matter how ‘unprofessional’ it is.  
Even if the man was fully guilty for your suffering and all of those at Black Mesa, you decided there and then, you would be sooooo nice to him that it would make his gut churn with guilt over what he’s done.

You, The G-man, of course knew Corporal Shephard stuck the sticker on there.  
You decided on playing dumb to give him that little bit of victory.  
You frankly didn’t care what your employers thought of it, they had no right to complain after all the great work you’ve done.

You sat at your desk, looking at the sticker.

A Shooting star with a rainbow coming out of it.

Shooting stars symbolizes change.  
Rainbows symbolize peace.

How appropriate.


	4. Day Ten

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrian's really been trying to keep it in  
> Trying to be nice  
> But fuck, it's hard sometimes  
> And sometimes  
> When you try to be civil  
> It just comes spilling out.

Unexpectedly, The G-man arrived without you requesting  
You were going to ask; You didn’t want to seem like you needed some form of ‘human’ attention, though you most definitely did  
But  
You know what happens when you appear ‘clingy’  
So you were going to give it half a week at least.  
Apparently The G-man had other thoughts  
You appreciate it  
He’s weird but okay to talk to.

“Cor-poral Ssshep-hard…”

His arrival was announced by the whooshing of the doors, yet he still found a greeting necessary. Obviously he didn’t know you had your ears finely tuned to the sound of the tram doors opening- you had a few false hopes when one of the puppies opened the other door.  
God, you really are lonely.  
You automatically pat the head of your nearest puppy, just so they know that you still appreciate their company even if you feel lonely.

“Hey, uh... G-man.”

You realized you’d never actually referred to him as anything like a name before, then you realized you never asked him for a name or anything. You’ve just been referring to him in your head as ‘The G-man’  
You haven’t even checked if he actually works for some kind of government agency, you’ve just assumed with the suit.  
You can’t believe you haven’t asked for his name, it must have slipped your mind between being angry at him and getting your puppies back.  
Not to mention he already knew your name, so you didn’t go through typical introductions.

“G… man, hm?”

He seemed awfully amused by it. at least the smirk on his face is kinder than last time, meaning you don’t want to punch him in the face this time.

“Yeah, well, Y’know, with the whole suit and everything, you seem like some government guy.”

The G-man nods at this as he made his way to the seat across from you.

“G-man ssseemsss mossst a-ppro-priate, Forgive me, but I mussst. Remain the utmossst prof-fessssional.. thr-ough-out our. En-countersss asss your... con-tain-ment isss ssstill busss-inessss. Ssso I cannot. Allow for you to know, my firssst name.” 

That made sense, until you remembered last names.  
You were about to say something before The G-man held up a hand to stop you.

“Yes… I am. Well aware of lassst namesss but, tech-ni-cally I do not. Have. One.”

Technically?  
You’re not even going to get into that  
The bastard’s gonna remain cryptic until you’re dead  
And you’re pretty sure you don’t age here.  
Your train of thought was interrupted yet again by his frustratingly annoying voice. No matter how nice you try to be, you’re pretty sure you’ll never enjoy his voice

“I also mussst a-pologise as thisss. Inter-a-ction will have to be... rather ssshort, there isss a… Frussst-rating a-mount of work. I mussst attend to... which is alssso the. Reassson why I am here, ssso sssoon. I have to visssit when-ever the op-por-tunity presssentsss itssself.”

Of course, you guess one meeting and he’s already decided that he’s had enough of you.  
Honestly, you wish he’d just say it outright instead of using the excuse of work.  
You’re quite fine with your puppies, after all.  
You appreciate he’s at least still visiting instead of just outright never visiting again.  
At least communicating with The G-man gave you some sense of time.  
Speaking of which  
Maybe you should ask for a clock or something. He gave you a pager so he shouldn’t have objections to a clock?

“Well, uh, at least you’re visiting, thanks.”

The thanks was more instinctive  
You felt different today  
You had your stickers  
You had you puppies  
But as time went on  
You realized how much you missed being free  
Being on Earth  
As you’re entirely convinced that this place was not on or anywhere near Earth  
Somewhere in space  
At least you’ve achieved going where some people only ever dream of going  
You wish you could enjoy it.

You blinked rapidly as you realized you’d been spacing out, blankly staring at The G-man.  
The G-man did nothing to help with bringing you back to reality as he waited silently for you to say something.  
You’re not sure if it’s politeness or he just doesn’t understand conversations  
And that he needs to also say something  
That the other can’t always be relied on for starting conversations.

“Uh… Anyway, I was wondering if I could have a watch or something, mine stopped-”

The G-man chuckled.   
God he’s gonna say some frustrating Sci-Fi shit, isn’t he?

“Nat-ur-ally your watch is… mal-func-tioning, the nature of this… sssitu-ation. Meansss that time. Doesss not func-tion. Correctly here.”

God damn it, of course it’s ‘doesn’t function correctly here’.  
Okay, so the idea of knowing the time is out of the window.  
Okay, you need to think about this, maybe you should start fake crying.   
Maybe you need to ask for something that can tell the time of the outside world.  
Instead of the time here.  
This is probably what he wanted you to ask  
He probably might not be part of any government agency but he sure acts like a suit  
Acting smarter than you  
Saying you’re wrong until you say it ‘the right way’

“Well can you give me a clock with the outside time or something? I’d be fine with a calendar at least.”

The G-man took a deep breath as he closed his eyes and rolled his neck in a stretch. You found the idea of him needing to stretch...  
Strange.  
I mean he looks old, but his body can’t actually be old or need exercise or anything?  
The idea of that is just too human.  
Too normal.  
As if to counter your thoughts of how normal he looked, when he finally opened his eyes, they glowed.  
You wanted to pretend it was the light reflecting, as those eye bore in you, but the only light that exists is the ones passing outside  
And besides  
No light makes blue eyes look that bright.

“I could… Make sssome form of ar-range-ment, al-though due to the. Comp-li-cationsss of your. Ssstay… It may take a. While to deliver on sssuch an offer.”

You wanted to thank him, say you understood  
But  
Your mouth had gone dry, his eyes bore into you more.  
One of your puppies sensed your slight distress, as they whined and nudged your hand.  
You honestly don’t know why you feel so panicked by this, not like you didn’t know he wasn’t alien  
Didn’t know he had unhuman-like features.  
Guess...  
Guess just his former behavior made you forget that  
Relaxing against a tree, on a lawn  
It felt so human  
You forgot how angry you felt when you first spoke to him  
After all it seemed like he was trying to make it up to you  
Being trapped here.  
But that didn’t excuse the past.  
You need to speak up or this will never be addressed.  
Then it'll build up before it flows over and spills at the wrong time.  
Well  
This might not be the time either  
But  
Before you knew what you were doing, you stood up quickly, at the surprise of both G-man and your surrounding puppies.

“Listen- I appreciate what you’re trying to do, I appreciate you for bringing my puppies and the lawn and stuff but-”

You needed to take a breath, you were just spilling these words out.  
You don’t like being rude or unpleasant  
It made you uncomfortable.

“-I'm still mad at you y'know. You may have brought my puppies and are doing your best to make me comfortable but that doesn't fix what happened at Black Mesa."

You hugged your arms and looked at the ground, you couldn’t bear to look the other in the eyes. Your puppies started to jump up, trying to lick away the tears under your mask.  
That stupid thing…  
Why do you even still have it on?  
It just feels normal to on your face  
Guess you just feel more comfortable with it on.

"I still get nightmares about it, when I can actually sleep in this metal hell box. I just think about the innocent people that died there, all the aliens that got killed because they attacked! I mean doesn’t anyone know that when introducing an animal to a new and strange environment they’ll get scared and will attack weird things out of fear!?”

You were gripping your hair at this point, your puppies were starting to tackle hug you to calm you down.  
Well every hug is a tackle with full grown Alaskan Malamutes.  
You hear The G-man clear his throat.  
God, if he says one annoying thing you swear you’re going to abandon your hospitality.

“I can. Under-ssstand your… Re-action to the sssituation, but-”

God, his voice is nails on a blackboard against your ears.

“I don’t think you do understand, you haven’t given me any confirmation that you feel any emotions towards the lives lost!”

Your puppies managed to tackle you into sitting down, now they swarmed your distressed form.  
You started to feel tired, the anger started to evaporate, but you weren’t done yet.

“You suits are all the same, you say some pretty words and everyone believes you. Well I. Don’t. Even if your employers forced you to cause the Black Mesa incident, you still caused it and I don’t see a single shred of sadness for their deaths!”

Your anger fully evaporated, you just slumped down in your seat and opened your arms to allow your puppies to cover you.  
The G-man seemed extremely shocked, the eyes that brought you such discomfort just before now made you smile.  
He probably wasn’t used to confrontation, that thought made you smile more.

“I-”

The G-man cleared his throat again, straightened his tie and stood up.

“I-I will be… sssee-ing you.”

With that, still in shock, he took his briefcase and left.

As he went, through the puppy pile you spotted colour against the dark brown leather.  
The sticker you gave him  
He still had it  
But surely he would have seen it by now and taken it off?  
Why was he keeping it?  
Did he want to keep it?  
Did  
Did he consider it a gift?

You’ve got a feeling that The G-man has more emotions than he lets on  
Looks like you’ve got some conversations ready for the next time he visits.  
At least now he understands how you feel  
Now you’ve gotta learn how he feels

And  
You have a feeling this is going to be difficult.


	5. Day Thirteen

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The G-man offers Adrian a new unusual pet as a peace offering.
> 
> Okay, he'll accept, he loves animals after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is from G-man's POV.

You, The G-man, was required to re-investigate the Boarder World, Xen.  
You want to assure your report is perfect  
And so, You have to ensure that the Boarder World is free from any ‘leftover’ fauna. You’re more than sure Dr. Freeman eliminated most, if not all, creatures that called the Boarder World home.  
But you had to be thorough.  
You had to be absolutely sure.  
You weren’t exactly thrilled, the living flora enjoyed grappling onto passersby with the intent of ripping clothes.  
You could mostly avoid these annoyances, but they prided themselves on reaching out when one least expected it.  
You are not one for going to a tailor and getting such things repaired, after all when it comes to incidents like these, it would be both more time and money efficient to simply throw out said suit.  
You contemplated this with a sigh.  
You had better things to do with your time than to worry about suits and their quality  
But  
You must look like a respectable businessman at all times, a requirement for your job.  
No matter how frustrating it may be.

Eventually you managed to get through the investigation of Xen, you felt a smirk grow on your face as you signed off the report.  
Other than the flora- you kicked one as they snaked around your ankle- everything was dead.  
A easy, but annoying job  
Then  
As you placed your papers into your briefcase, slapping away yet another creeping plant, you felt something  
A connection.  
A bond.  
Between you and something here.

Bonds, you consider, can be an important thing  
Yes, your employers disagree  
Well, with bonds that are strong, that they can be positive.  
They won’t deny the truth that bonds are important  
But they’ll deny the truth that strong bonds are important.  
They only consider them dangerous  
Distracting from your job.  
You guess they are right, you contemplated, as you walk off towards a small cave, the urge to investigate is quite distracting.   
You didn’t pay it any mind beforehand, as it was far too small for you to investigate thoroughly but you didn’t sense anything was living so you glossed over it.  
You don’t know why you’re drawn to this cave -more of a hole if anything- but apparently you needed to investigate closer.  
Or at least that’s how you justified it when some rather thorny vine tripped you, prompting you get to get a better look in the cave.   
Everything happens for a reason after all.  
You justified.  
For the sake of the flora’s well being. You gave it the benefit of the doubt and decided to believe it wanted to help.

“In-sssufferable…”

You angrily mumbled, attempting to lift yourself up as the floor of wriggling vines decided otherwise.  
Fine.  
You’ll look as closely as you can from your position on the ground, hopefully if you find whatever they wish you to find, they’ll stop being so frustrating.  
Then you spotted a small lump, lying in a dip at the cave mouth  
Of course you never spotted it the first time around, the lump was so small that -even know you could easily see in the dark- it was basically invisible.  
The vines attempting to turn your suit jacket into rags, and succeeding, finally relented as you carefully removed the lump from the cave mouth.  
You stood up, and managed to make out what the lump was fully.

So this is what you were drawn to, whatever bond you had between this deceased baby houndeye was overwhelming now.  
By that, you meant you felt a slight headache as you attempted to see why this bond was so important.  
Bonds grow over time, yes, but typically you can tell what bonds will grow even if you’ve had no contact with the other beforehand. Thanks to how much that power has grown, it causes some unwanted headaches.  
But  
You powered through the pain, musing about ‘curiosity killed the cat’, as you wanted to know why this bond seemed so important.  
That’s right, Adrian developed a strong bond with some of the creatures that invaded Black Mesa.  
Unfortunately for him, anything that was left behind in Black Mesa is dead now.  
The only alive Xen fauna are the small, insignificant ones hiding here.  
Not like they mattered enough for the report.  
If a nest of Chumtoads trapped on Xen could change the course of the timeline, you’d be rather impressed.

You shifted the small creature into one hand, using the other to lift it up, examining the creature.

“Ssso young…”

You saw the fate of this poor creature, born dead.  
You felt something you hadn’t felt in decades, something you were sure you forgot.  
Emotions are an interesting thing, even if you’ve attempted to ignore or forget certain emotions for decades they can still be felt as if you never abandoned them.  
Sympathy, grief, the physical pain of those emotions added to your headache.  
It is unfair  
Something so young and so weak to be allowed to die  
Not given a chance at a life they could be so happy in  
Due to inflexible circumstances.  
It is a good thing your abilities are designed to change these inflexible circumstances.  
There was a time that the creature could be alive  
And so, you brought that time to your own.  
You could not heal, that was an ability only creatures from Xen were capable of.  
But  
You could alter time  
Change it to your liking  
Of course, it worked.

The G-man slinked through the tram doors, all the air of a dog with its tails between its legs.  
A peace offering  
That’s what this houndeye will represent.  
Selfish, it could be  
If you saw this houndeye as just an object to show Adrian you had a heart  
You think you have a heart  
That’s beyond the point.  
You have memories  
Memories that held feelings  
You cared about this houndeye, no matter how much you despised Xen  
But naturally you couldn’t take care of it.  
Not as if that was your intention, either way  
Your employers would kill it, a distraction.  
You didn’t have anything suitable to take care of the houndeye, anyway.  
But  
Adrian could, you knew he would by how much he fawned over the adults in Black Mesa.

“Back so soon? Finally figured out something to say?”

There was anger in his voice, it was clear as day  
You weren’t shocked, he probably just stewed in anger, having nothing else to do.  
This visit would have to be quick, upsetting him more would make future matters more difficult.

The truth is, Adrian wasn’t entirely angry but he wanted to make sure The G-man wasn’t even close to forgiven.   
The man clearly was hiding how he truly felt  
Probably couldn't speak out against his employers, a typical business practice with suits.  
Covering their asses, making sure to look good.  
But  
He was still responsible and Adrian would hold him accountable.

“I… Do not wisssh to. Upssset you more. Nor make the sssit-u-ation worssse.”

Adrian scoffed at this.

“I think that’s something you should have thought of before Black Mesa.”

The G-man had the decency to look embarrassed, glancing at the ground before looking back at Adrian.

“I under-ssstand your. Anger ssso I will make thisss trip ssshort…”

The Malamutes were all outside, but started to come in once they realized you had arrived.  
The lead dog of the pack approached you with slight hesitation, you weren’t entirely sure if it was because they knew Adrian was mad at you or the smell of Xen that surely littered your clothing was unsettling to them.  
As you attempted to figure out how to reveal the houndeye safely, preventing the dogs from panicking at this new creature. The lead dog started to bark, clearly unsettled by the strange living presence it could sense in your hands.  
The houndeye’s chirps of confusion were hardly audible over the cacophony of barks that started from the entire pack, picking up on their leader’s barking.  
‘Hardly’ audible, however, as it seemed Adrian picked up on the new noise.  
Or at least, that’s what you interpreted from the widening of his eyes, a typical shocked expression.

“Is that a- I thought they would all be dead after-”

Adrian approached you cautiously -and awkwardly due to the swarm of dogs- as if he didn’t quite believe what you had brought.  
You honestly didn’t believe it either.  
This was extremely against all protocols  
Bonding with a hire, such as giving them gifts, is extremely prohibited.  
Many have been fired for similar situations.  
Good thing you’re smarter and better at your job than them.

“Mossst if not. All are dead, thisss one in fact was… temp-orarily-”

Adrian was, obviously, taken aback.

“What do you mean-” you saw him squint as he tried to figure out the meaning behind your words “-Did you bring it back to life? Is it a zombie?”

Adrian felt stupid straight as he said it, feeling like he should never watch another Sci-Fi movie again.  
The G-man chuckling didn’t help.

“Nothing asss ab-sssurd asss. That, but the idea is... true.”

Adrian now was standing in front of you, fully focused on your clasped hands.  
The barking had subsided, so the chirping from the houndeye had also subsided, you could feel the thing shake.  
Fear was understandable, this environment wasn’t the best to introduce it.  
Adrian seemed to sense that as well.

“Do the tram doors lock, for y’know preventing certain someones from getting in.”

At your nod, Adrian ushered the pack outside, luckily without much protests.  
He had trained them well.  
Once he had returned, he gestured for you to place the houndeye on the floor.  
You complied, you could feel his anger towards you dissipating and you wished to not reignite it with protests.  
The houndeye was happy to escape the small space your hands had created, immediately running around on the floor, seemingly unphased by you and Adrian.

“Huh, I’m guessing you want me to keep him here?”

You nodded.  
You both sat in silence, allowing the houndeye to get used to the new environment by scampering around and on the both of you.  
You felt something watching the joy of the small creature you had helped.  
You both continued to watch   
A pleasant chime of bells, faintly musical, could be heard. The source seemed to be unrecognizable.  
Soon as you heard it and realized what it is, the noise ceased  
The houndeye was unphased, but Adrian seemed slightly confused as he tilted his head at you.  
You offered a shake of your head.  
He appeared to brush it off, decided he would ask a different question.  
Mostly likely believing you would give a 'cryptic' answer if he asked.  
You would.

“Why did you bring this houndeye here? I mean-” Adrian shook his head, seemingly trying to get his thoughts together. “-You brought it back to life!”

Adrian then motioned to your ripped up suit.

"And it looks like you went through a lot of effort to get her."

You coughed awkwardly at that.

You really didn’t want to say what your motivation was, your past was something you didn’t want to bring up.  
It wasn’t entirely unpleasant, just something you didn’t openly discuss.

You sat up slowly, so as not to scare the houndeye and sat on the nearest seat.

“My employersss are againssst the. Idea of you having objectsss in-forming you of the... time and datesss asss they are con-cerned it could lead to an. Un-con-trollable desssire to leave. That could lead to a-ggressssive be-havior which could lead you... to be un-willing to perform future tasssksss if and when given.”

Adrian seemed to shrug this off, at least you avoided that argument.

“You’re changing the subject.”

Adrian stood up, scooping the houndeye as he did  
The creature has worn itself out with the scampering and now slept in his hands.  
Adrian sat across from you.

“Why did you bring her here- better question- why did you bring her back to life?”

Adrian stared you down, leaning forward in his seat the best he could without disturbing the houndeye.  
His tone was calm but demanding.  
You didn’t feel like another fight.  
So you sighed and looked out the back window of the tram.  
You didn’t want to see his reaction to the story.

When you were younger, a young man who had just started to adjust to his adult life, you encountered something that changed your perspective on life.  
Interesting  
How something so small could affect you so majorly.  
You were walking along the beach, what else to do when living in a beach house?  
It was breeding season for oyster catchers, you decided to watch them from afar  
These birds inhabited your beach often, you had grown a fondness for them and wished them good health.  
So you watched out for any struggling bird parents.  
There were none so far, hopefully it was a good omen.  
All adults were in good health.  
But  
As you reached one nest  
You spotted a shape dragging itself around, ignored by the adult.  
Eventually it dragged itself far enough from the nesting area that you could get close to it.

A hatchling, at first it appeared in perfect health.  
But  
As you picked it up, you noticed it’s wing was bent awkwardly  
The hatchling didn’t appear to be in pain, so you assumed it was born like that.  
You decided to take it back home, obviously the parents abandoned it for it’s poor chance at survival  
But you would try to give it a second chance  
Something so young, it should be given a chance to experience life.

It survived for a week, you gave it all the care in the world  
You did all you could  
But  
It still died  
You felt as if you could do more  
That you had to do more  
But you didn’t  
Couldn’t  
You weren’t that experienced with your powers at the time.  
How furious you are at yourself for that  
Maybe you still are  
You don’t know.  
You regret it’s death at least.  
You regret never giving it name  
You thought there were more time and you wanted to give it a meaningful name  
Well it’s far too late for those thoughts now.

“So you brought the houndeye back because you…”

Adrian was taking in a lot of information so it was natural for him to take awhile to understand why you were telling him this  
How it was relevant.

“The baby’s death is something you still feel sad over and the houndeye reminded you of them so you brought her back?”

You could only nod your head, speaking was out of the question.

“Well… We should name her now, do you have any ideas?”

Your head turned back to Adrian rather quickly, it’s a good thing you didn’t hurt your neck with how fast you turned it.  
But you still couldn’t speak, instead you shook your head.  
You were sure your face was filled with shock.

“That’s okay, I think I already have a name for her anyway-” You could tell by his eyes that he was giving you a warm smile. “-I think Oyster suits her.”

As if in agreement, the houndeye gave a sleepy chirp.

Finally you could speak.

“A… fine n-name, now if you mussst e-xcussse me... I have to go now. Asss I sssaid... be-fore thisss trip hasss to be... ssshort.”

You stood up far too quickly to be even pretending that name didn’t affect you  
Adrian noticed this.  
As he offered something to you, keeping the houndeye in one hand.

“Take it.”

You took the sticker sheet without protest, you weren’t in the mood to debate.  
And his voice was extremely stern.

You sat down at your desk, thank goodness for your own personal office.  
No one could see you exhibit your unnatural behavior.  
Your head in your hands  
The colour sheet of bird stickers mixed in with stars stickers laying clear as day on your desk.  
Your briefcase was there too, sticker side up.

Yes, this is part of your plan  
But are you willing to deal with the overwhelming emotions that came with it?  
You haven’t felt emotions in years  
Pushing them down and avoiding them  
For the sake of your job  
Now that they started to appear again, growing quickly as the second you felt them.  
They latched onto whatever they could, refusing to let go.  
This could be detrimental to your plan.  
You need to focus, keep acting emotionless  
You need to see this plan through to the end  
You need to hold it together  
You can hold it together.  
After all, if you don’t keep it together  
This could mean the end for Adrian.  
So you will do what you can  
You have to.

For Adrian’s sake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry about this taking so long and being so short!!! Lost motivation for this for a while and now it's almost 3am!!! (Any grammar and spelling mistakes can be blamed on that)
> 
> I'm trying to have Adrian's POV in current tense and G-man's in past tense 4 reazonz!! hope u notice :)


	6. Day 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There is special Flora that Vortigaunts grew  
> The G-man knows how to grow them
> 
> Adrian is optimistic.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to all that have read this, It means so much to me to know over 300 people took their time 2 read my stuff!!  
> It honestly means so much to read comments and see I'm getting kudos!!!  
> Don't be afraid to comment!! Even if it's just incoherent or a keyboard smash!! Comments fuel me!!!

The days had been mundane  
His visits short, nothing meaningful  
He either visited when you asked, even if it was for 20 minutes or so, or when he could find the time  
These little conversations meant so much to you  
It grounded you  
It remind you of what it was like to be human  
Somewhat, given that he’s not human  
But still  
Not like you could really define what is a human or at least couldn’t think of a ‘defining’ trait of a human that also didn’t apply to other animals.  
And  
Maybe it’s just you haven't spent enough time with humans to figure out their defining traits  
You could probably say what are the defining traits of dogs are  
You could probably say what the defining traits of a lot of animals are  
But not human.

Oyster is getting more lively each day, she seems to like the grass  
She found it odd at first, even screech so loud you landed on your ass when you first tried to place her on it  
But she seemed to regard the rest of the pack as equals, so when they went on it without a care, she found no problem with it.  
You didn’t except for her to start bounding around straight away, she seemed a little weak on her feet  
Like she wasn’t use to walking  
Or anything living wise.  
The G-man told you that she had died, you presumed from an accident on Xen  
But he never said how young she was when she died  
Applying your animal knowledge to her, her small size would make you think she’s a newborn  
But as you watch her as she attempted her best to frolic with the rest of the pack, there’s no way she’s capable of that  
But then again, you don’t know much about houndeyes, other than their species names and some abilities  
You’ve been meaning to ask him  
But you’ve gotten side tracked with other things  
He won’t allow you to know the exact time or date, but he’ll at least give you a rough idea as well as updates on how earth is doing  
You don’t like the implications from the Resonance Cascade, although he tries to give you very little -you conclude that his employers wish for you to be kept in the dark- his body language shows one of distress when he talks about anything relating to Black Mesa.  
You’ve always been good at body language, you like to believe, but not as if he tries to hide it  
From how he acts, you have a feeling professionalism means to not show emotions, guess he doesn’t have to be professional with you.  
You appreciate that  
Professional people always have an air of thinking they’re better with you  
You don’t think you’d be able to stand having these conversations with you if he kept up his professional act.

“Oyssster ssseemsss to be… cop-ing well, hm?”

You almost jumped a mile when you heard The G-man’s voice, you didn’t notice him come in.

“Uh, yeah, she was a challenge at first but the pack has been helping her out.”

The G-man simply nodded in response, sitting opposite you, a routine both of you have gotten used to.  
You both sat in silence for a bit, watching the puppies play together in the grass  
It was a peaceful scene, relaxing even.

“Dessspite her alien nature, ssshe ssseemsss to be un-phasssed by what ssshe much regard as ssstrange. Crea-turesss-”

You saw a slight smile on his face, accompanied by a chuckle. Despite the anger you still have towards the man, seeing him seemingly cheerful makes you feel happy.  
Well it wasn’t just that  
You spied his briefcase, he finally brought it with him  
It was adorned with stickers, oddly they were only covering one side.  
He must be planning to either stay for a while and do work here, or he has to go quickly back to work  
You hope it’s the latter.

“-But then again. Ssshe has no... for-mer ex-per-ience with other cre-aturesss, ssshe may just be-lieve thisss isss normal.”

You found that statement odd, what on earth was he hinting at for how he found Oyster?  
Did the mother give birth to her in some isolated place on Xen?  
Was she a runt that was kicked out?  
That would explain her size and potentially her not meeting any other Houndeyes.  
There were a lot of things you wanted to ask  
But  
That might ruin the mood  
It was peaceful  
Why would you ruin that with the mention of death?

“Would you like to go out and see her? She does seem to like you.”

His eyes seemed to light up slightly at that, you can understand that, having animals like you is a wonderful feeling.  
You got up without another word, you outstretched your arm against the open door to allow The G-man to pass through  
It was both a gesture of politeness and also demanding that he went outside.  
The G-man, unable to refuse this gesture, politely nods his head to you as he walks outside.  
You went and sat down against the tree, the only comfy place to sit in the lawn  
He sat down against the tree as well.  
The puppies continued bounding around the lawn, ignoring the both of you as they were far too invested in making sure Oyster was having fun  
Her high-pitched chirps were heard as she attempted her best to bound around the lawn with the same energy as the rest, but her lack of stability cause her to fall over when she picked up decent speed  
She didn’t let that get her down, however, as this repeated over and over again  
Clearly she was having fun  
And  
You  
You were having fun  
Yeah! Watching the puppies made you happy  
Having some form of human contact made you happy  
You were happy and having fun  
Right?

“Oy-ssster isss quite a resilient creature…”

You nodded

“She’s had a hard start to life but she’s toughing it out, she’s a fighter and the puppies help remind her to stay strong.”

But even the toughest of fighters needed naps, and it seemed that Oyster had used up all her energy for the day as she tirely stumbled towards the both of you  
She paused as she realized G-man was there, almost curious on why the man had appeared  
Then tiredness overtook her, she decided that it was a mystery for another day and curled up on the man’s lap  
You almost burst out laughing as he seemed shocked by this outcome.

“I told you she likes you.”

The G-man accepted this explanation with a smile, placing a delicate hand on her  
Even know he had told you that story  
Even know he had handle Oyster so carefully  
It still seemed strange to see this normal serious suit to be patting a alien dog on his lap  
Relaxing against a tree.  
The puppies had decided that they were tired too, now flopping on the grass near you.  
You looked at the lawn, it’s unnaturally bright colours started to hurt your eyes  
You could ignore it mostly, the dull colours of your puppies coats helped  
But now you looked at the grass without anything to cover it.

“Uh, I’ve been meaning to ask… What’s with the grass?”

The G-man paused and looked at the grass, as if he had just noticed it for the first time.

“Ah… I fa-ctored that could be a... po-tential problem due to it’sss. Nature, I a-pologize for any pain it may caussse your eyes… It is un-preventable I’m afraid…”

“Do you think you could add anything to make it less painful, maybe some other colours with flowers could at least lessen it.” You chucked. “Unless they’ll be just as bright and painful as the grass.”

He was silent for a moment, obviously thinking if that was a solution.

“I could do that. The only matter really isss what type of. Flowersss you wisssh to have.”

You honestly weren’t a flower fanatic or even knew a lot of flowers   
Other than what Delia grew, you knew nothing about their names  
She taught you a few meanings as well, you were honestly amazed that different flowers had meanings behind them  
You wish you spent more time learning about flowers  
For Delia’s sake

What are you thinking?  
She isn’t dead.

“Uh… I honestly don’t know, I’m big in the flower department.”

The G-man smiled, as if he expected this answer.

“I under-ssstand… There is one potential solution that I think you will like and I think will make… Oyster feel more at home.”

Oyster perked up at her name, her sleepy eyes blinked slowly at G-man.

“There is a cer-tain type of flora on… Vortigauntsss… home had ssspecially grown for many yearsss. In fact they are usssed for ritual. And other cultural pur-posssesss. Asss you sssee they grew a-ccording to the feel-ingsss of said Vortigauntsss that sssurrounded them, asss they had quite a… major co-nnection to living thingsss. Luckily it ssshould. Not be a problem for usss and they ssshould resss-pond well to your… emotionsss.”

Emotions?

“Heh, well I feel like they’ll just spout up as weeds.”

The G-man’s expression changed to something you’d never thought you’d see  
Concern

“I… hope not, thisss flora reactsss to under-lying emotionsss, it is usssed asss a form of. Bonding. Voritugauntsss trea-sssured it for it being able to piece apart com-plated. Emotionsss the ussser had trouble underssstanding asss well asss used asss a. Tool to know how a-nother felt and how to help them.”

Therapy flowers?  
Great.  
Well it’s better than looking at the grass  
And oyster might feel more at home  
So, why not?

“Oh… Well they do sound interesting so why not?”

You tried to sound optimistic but you were honestly afraid of what the flower could reveal  
You felt embarrassed at the potential  
But  
You need to ignore and suppress that, maybe the flowers won’t be able to pick it up.

The G-man nodded and stood up, placing oyster on the ground next to him.

“I will be back when time per-mitsss.”

And with that, he was gone  
Now all that was left was your worries and puppies.  
You decided to ignore the worries and focus on the puppies.

“Do you guys think this is a bad idea?” 

The puppies perked up their head slightly as they could tell you were talking to them.

“I mean I can’t stare at this grass forever but I’m worried what it could reveal and I don’t want him to know! He’s an asshole, despite how he’s been lately he’s still overall a bad person. I don’t want him to see stuff like that!”

You groaned and patted your mask a bit.

“I mean he’s just- y’know!”

They did indeed know, and understood deeply  
And so they yawned in agreement, before going back to sleep  
Oyster, using her small size as an avatange, climbs on top of a puppy and promptly sleeps there.  
You decided that you should sleep to  
And so you leaned against the tree and closed your eyes.

You’re not sure how long you were asleep for  
It wasn’t a nice nap  
You haven’t gotten any good sleep lately  
You thought this nap would make you feel somewhat rested  
But  
You just feel terribly tired.

“I hope I didn’t disturb you… I have just finished preparing the lawn for the growth of the flowers… It seems that Oyster has already taken a liking to the change.”

Indeed she had, it seems the reminder of home had put a spring in her step as she was no longer struggling to scamper around the lawn with the rest of the puppies.  
The dirt under had been turned to a bluish colour, you suspect this was the prep G-man was talking about.  
He sat down against the tree again.

“It wasn’t a good nap anyway… So uh, when’s the flowers gonna grown?”

“Hm… They shouldn’t take too long, they are quite resilient and quick to grow.”

You nodded your head, decided to lean against the tree and watch the puppies play while you waited.

It took about 10 minutes, you would say, before any noticeable growth occurred.  
You felt something nudge the hand you had placed on the ground.  
A group of small, orange flowers, their petals were small and faced upwards.  
You recognize them.  
Deila had a small amount of them growing in her garden  
She found their symbolism odd  
‘Let me go’  
Why would anyone need flowers to say that?  
Surely someone who wanted to convey that message wouldn’t have access to flowers.  
You hoped The G-man didn’t see them, or at least knew the meaning.  
You looked over at him

The G-man seemed lost in his own world, his hands delicately stroking the flower that had grown  
They were small and almost ball shaped  
They grew out of the bush in long stalks, a range of colours  
Zinnias  
Delia grew a bush of them  
She said in her old age you get a lot of those types of thoughts  
You asked her what she meant  
‘Thoughts of absent friends’  
Oh  
Well  
G-man appears old too, so that shouldn’t be a shock.  
But  
What was a shock  
Is the noise coming from him  
He wasn’t humming, although you thought that at first  
It was a pleasant tune, one you would hear on windchimes as a warm breeze passed through on an autumn evening.   
You looked at the expression on G-man’s face  
Joy  
That’s the only word you could use  
His crow’s feet were more visible as his eyes scrunched up in the corners from his smile  
The smile was small, but visible.  
You looked at him for a while, in awe of this display of genuine emotion from someone like him.

The G-man cleared his throat and looked at you, seemingly embarrassed by his show of emotion. You quickly looked back at the puppies, not wanting to look like you were staring  
You were  
But

“I have got-ten rather… Sssidetracked, I ssshould get going.”

He stood up abruptly, the music ending as he did so.

You wanted to say something, something along the lines of how you appreciate what he’s trying to do. That he shouldn’t be embarrassed by showing his emotions  
That you understand  
That maybe you’re misjudging him.  
But  
You were never one for words like that  
You tried a lot  
But you normally got teary eyed.  
So  
You did the next logical thing  
You stood up quickly, before he had the opportunity to go  
A swift hug, just a simple arm wrap around the chest  
The man was horribly tall, so the hug was a bit awkward.  
But it didn’t last for long, so it’s okay.  
For a second G-man froze, seemingly unable to register either what happened or why it happened  
But  
Then he gave a small smile, understanding.  
Then  
He was gone.

You are optimistic, as you hear the chirps from oyster and the barks from the rest of the pack  
So full of joy  
You looked back at the bush of Zinnias, placing hand on the bush  
You look at your own flowers, their growth has stopped, only a small patch remains.  
You  
Are  
Optimistic  
Hopeful  
And  
So full of Joy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for it taking so long! I didn't have much motivation...  
> But it's here now!!!


	7. Day ???

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Flowers  
> The Boogeyman  
> A lullaby, home.

He hasn’t visited you in…  
Well, you assume a week or so  
But  
The days have started to blend together so much you’re not too sure  
He was the only source of time for you  
Yes, you have been trying to keep track  
But  
The lack of day and night cycle, the endless abyss that makes up most of the scenery has thrown your sense of time completely out of whack.  
A headache grows  
And so does worry  
Had he forgotten about you?  
Surely, he couldn’t have  
Surely…

You couldn’t stand being outside anymore, the flowers that grew there started to reflect more than just underlying feelings  
They must also pick up on strong feelings that the person wants to ignore.  
Delia did not grow these, she refused to grow anything openly sorrowful  
But she knew flowers  
She taught you flowers  
For when you had a garden of your own  
A life of your own  
To not grow these flower, for fear they would curse you with negative energy  
You didn’t understand at the time, but now you do  
Weeds did not grow, but the flowers grew like such  
Choking the grass, climbing up the tree  
The pack refused to go outside.

Snapdragons  
They grew near the door, refusing to let it close, forcing you to be connected to the outside  
Delia said they represented deception  
A horrid thing, she would clamp her hands over her ears at the mention of them.  
You did feel deceived  
You felt like you were getting through to him  
The small smiles, the stickers  
Did your hug scare him?  
Was his smile insincere?  
He certainly didn’t seem like the kind to be held back on rude or harsh feelings, so why didn’t he say something?  
Maybe  
Maybe he’s trying to make you think he likes you  
For some reason  
Some reason you’ll never understand  
Suits think they’re better than you  
So they’ll never explain, they don’t think you’re worth the time.

Anemone and and Tansy fought over most of the lawn  
Tansy was an expected fighter  
Delia mentioned one day about how she’d never grown Tansy.  
“It’s like asking for war to come to my doorstep, or at least violence!”  
You asked why  
Tansy was a sign of declaring war, as well as hostile thoughts in general  
She refused to be near it, swearing up and down Tansy would cause her to be filled with hostile thoughts.  
You wonder if anyone grew Tansy at Black Mesa, you didn’t bother to check.  
Anemone  
Delia referred to these flowers with a sympathetic tone  
These flowers just made her sad  
You found out why  
‘Forsaken’  
Such a poetic word  
You agreed with her sadness  
To be forsaken  
It just sounded worse than being abandoned, the word added a hint of sadness to it  
That word remind you of fairy tales  
Ones that didn’t have happy endings  
Ones where the princess waited for her prince, only to have him never come  
Forsaken.  
You understood why those flowers fought over the lawn  
You were angry at the G-man  
And  
You felt like he abandoned you  
You wanted to fight him, spit in his face, claw at it  
Hostile thoughts consumed you the more you thought about it, Tansies were winning the fight  
Was this it?  
Was this the end of your story?  
To be forsaken, consumed by nothing but angry thoughts  
Thoughts not even dogs could sooth  
Not even the worried chirping of Oyster could make you feel better.

You don’t know how long you had been here  
How long it had been since The G-man abandoned you  
You don’t know when you finished caring  
You don’t know how much sleep you’ve had, you fear if you sleep, you’ll lost even more track of time  
The other flowers continued to grow more powerful outside, now it was simply impossible to step a foot outside with the overgrowth.  
You lifted your head as you saw new flowers start to grow, now the tree began to be consumed.  
Willow  
Sadness.  
Delia may not have grown them, but you could tell she wanted to  
A small reflection from an old lady  
But  
She never wanted to seem down  
She always keep her head up high  
You respect her for that  
For many things  
But  
You respect and admire her for something you think you’ll never be able to do.

The dogs could no longer comfort you, neither could stickers  
Oyster bounced all over you and yet there was no response  
Not even a small chuckle  
You just looked out the window as the flowers warped the scenery.

You don’t know if you’d been watching it for days.

You aren't too sure of anything anymore.

The G-man  
He offered no reason for his absence  
Well  
Maybe he did  
You weren’t listening.  
You just wanted it simple, not the way he says things  
So you asked a simple question.

“Why?”

You didn’t know what else to say, anger and sadness and all the rest of those emotions had dissipated  
There was nothing now.  
Just silence, stillness.

“Cor-poral Ssshephard… You know I cannot disss-close sssuch in-formation. Asss much asss I know you are. De-ssserving of even the ssslight-essst jussst-i-vication. The mossst I can give you isss that it was…. Un-a-voidable.”

Well  
You didn’t expect anything close to a explanation from G-man in general.  
So this was a nice surprise.  
But  
You were still angry  
The anger that remanded in your body forced you to stand, facing the tall figure that also stood before you.  
But  
He lightly placed a hand on your shoulder before you could do something.

“You need sssleep Cor-poral, I will deal with the… Flowersss.”

He removed the hand and took a step towards the door  
Then he stopped  
He turned his head sideways, as if noticing you for the first time.

The G-man had hugged before, yes  
But  
That was a different life  
A different time  
Before he took the job  
Before he became ‘The G-man’  
So  
He was quite unused to and quite out of practice when it came to this  
He was an Observer, interaction was not a job requirement.  
But a hug is simple in theory  
So  
He gave the other a brief hug, understanding, like the other had done before  
Actions spoke louder than words  
You hoped.  
He hugged you  
Before you could comment on what he had just done  
He was out the door, an incredible feat seeing that you couldn't  
Not like you tried.  
But  
What you can try to do  
Is to try to sleep  
When The G-man mentioned sleep, you instantly felt tired  
Maybe that was just your body finally being able to get through to you  
Or  
Maybe The G-man had powers in persuasion.

You couldn't sleep  
Not within The G-man’s presence  
Even if he was outside  
Even if you had your puppies with you  
Even with Oyster sleeping next to your head

Why was he being so nice?

You more than expected for him to brush off the fact that he’d been away for so long  
Why was he acting so different?  
Was it because he saw how the time treated you  
There’s no use in thinking about these things, he’ll never answer them  
Not truthfully  
Not in any way close to being straightforward.

You suddenly heard a lullaby drift from the lawn.  
You wondered if this was a feature of the flowers G-man forgot to tell you about  
Or  
Maybe it was him?  
As the lullaby continued, you realized you recognized the tune.

When you were younger, you would hide in the corners of the house from thunder, wrapped up in your puppy adorned blankets  
The loudness scared you  
The lightning was cool, how the sky could produce it astounded you  
But  
The loud thunder scared you half to death  
You tried to escape the noise, but it never worked.  
Until your mum found you  
Until she pick you up and spoke soft words of comfort  
Until she played that lullaby and hugged you to sleep.  
Funny, joining the army when you were afraid of loud noises  
Guess you outgrown some childhood fears  
You thought you outgrew your fear of the boogeyman  
But he’s outside, a confusing specter that prevents you from drifting off to sleep.  
The music lulled you, but a nervous feeling in your gut prevented you from peacefully sleeping.  
The music seemed to respond to this, growing louder  
Then you only heard it, and only dreamt of your mum holding you again  
Assuring you this would pass  
That everything will turn out fine.

Maybe the boogeyman just had trouble communicating  
Maybe he enjoys scaring people  
Whatever the case  
In the space between unconsciousness and consciousness  
You felt a blanket being laid on top of you  
And a pat on the shoulder.

When you woke  
He was gone  
So was the music  
So was the flowers  
There was one, a gentle white against bright green  
Daisy  
‘Hope’  
'New beginnings'  
You saw Delia smile as you looked at it.  
Then  
You realized that was the most refreshing sleep you’ve had in a long, long time.

What is his deal?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is almost 3:30am!!! Sleepy Time 4 Adrian and for me!! Hope Y'all enjoy this bit! The Epilogue will be here soon!! G-man dedicated chapter moments,,,
> 
> Barnaby.


	8. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The G-man contemplates his interactions with Adrian, now starting to understand him.  
> He contemplates the future and that will have to be done.
> 
> Another person will have to be introduced, in order for the future to go as planned.

A man of your position is one that isn't expected to have emotions  
Isn’t expected.  
Emotions are something that one can distance yourself from, an ability that is eventually learned.  
Emotions are distracting to your job  
To what you need to do  
You are an Observer.  
Your job is simple, but distractions have started to make it difficult.  
Namely  
Adrian.  
Well, that’s what your employers see.

They don’t necessarily watch what events take place in Adrian’s stasis  
They couldn’t care less  
They only care about those who have more beneficial contracts  
Those of greater importance.  
But, what you find interesting is they dismiss those they deem of lesser value  
Especially those you have taken interest in  
You have proven that you, out of anyone else, will be and is able to see the value of others.  
But  
You should not question their way.

They have, of recent, take an interest in Adrian  
Or  
More namely, his interactions with you.  
You expected this, of course  
And knew what they would ask you and what you would have to do  
You were a step ahead of them in that sense  
But  
The unfortunate consequence of being a step ahead is that you cannot plan for the baby steps in between.  
The toll it had on Adrian was a horrid consequence  
You started to understand humans little by little the more you interacted with Adrian  
At first  
You couldn’t understand his mood switch  
He hated you  
You understood that and knew the reasons why  
They seemed reasonable enough  
So why was he tolerable of you sometimes?  
That reason felt beyond your understanding  
Beyond logical understanding at least.

The Hug.  
That’s how you label it in your mind, at least  
Yes, you understood you would bond with him  
You understood that somehow, he would grow tolerable of you  
You gave him reasons, bringing his pets and bringing him… Oyster.  
But you never expected it to be so quick  
For him to grow tolerable of you, at would you would consider being an incredible speed.  
But  
Maybe that’s just human nature  
Or his.  
You started to learn, but after how Adrian was after your prolonged absence, compared to the first time.  
You fully understood.  
It wasn’t who you actually are that he cared about  
You know he hates what you actually are  
He enjoys your company  
As company is what he needs  
Not just animal, that can only help for so long.  
Humans need to bond with other humans  
Humans understand each other, and require understanding  
Bonding is through understanding, knowing and caring.  
The Hug showed you that  
It helped you understand  
You saw the future, but gained none of it’s knowledge  
Of what now is, that is where you learned, like anyone else.  
Fortunately, you had longer to learn  
Unfortunately, that meant the appearances of lessons were further apart than for most.  
But  
In the little time you could frequently interact with Adrian, you started to learn.  
That's what your hug showed, you hope.

The future  
You would have to begin your plans quicker than you expected  
You could not allow Adrian to get in such a state yet again  
The toll on his health could be dire.  
You now understood why there were certain types of stasis and why they were so important  
Gordon Freeman would not be what he will be if his 20 years stasis was spent conscious.  
You look both at Adrian and Mr Freeman  
Adrian seems happy, talking to his pets again and decorating the tram with stickers again.  
You looked upon the lawn  
Most of it was visible now, his emotions in check now.  
You understood the symbolism of flowers as well  
It fascinated you, that humans found meaning in everything, or made their own.  
But  
You didn’t entirely enjoy what you saw  
You did seem something important, some daisies decorated the lawn here and there.  
But  
Butterfly weed was a significant flower on the lawn, growing in bunches near the tree and edges.  
You looked away, fully looking at Mr Freeman.  
Maybe, in a later chance that could or will happen, you would consider him to be a friend for Adrian now.  
But you do not need the lawn to be overgrown with butterfly weed  
Not now  
You have no idea how he would act toward Adrian.  
His experiences with the military have not been to exchange pleasantries after all.  
And  
A man like him was not one to be confined to such a small place  
Adrian might suit it, but you believed Mr Freeman would go mad in such a situation.

You need someone who you know will have no current problems with being remove from the events taking place.  
Barney Calhoun.  
You have and you will watch him leave Black Mesa, going too far for one to reach  
But  
You may have to change that.  
He will be needed in the future but for now, with your lack of choices and lack of understanding of Mr Freeman.  
You have no choice but to interfere greater than you usually have.  
You must stay away from Adrian, for matters you are not at liberty to say  
Your employers find that Adrian does not need to know their reasons  
And you cannot go against their word.  
For now  
But you can alter their meanings  
To satisfy them and continue your plans as you intend.  
As you have and will always do.  
Until you have to leave.

Time now freezes, and you look upon the now former security officer.

“Barney Calhoun… I hope I am not. In-ter-rupting anything... im-portant, hm?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the end to the Adrian story! Now it's time for Barnaby :)  
> Thank y'all for reading my story!! I know I said it last time, but your comments and kudos means so much to me!!!  
> I can't believe we have over 420 people who's read!!!  
> !!!  
> :)!!


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